Today a situation occurred on an Aer Lingus flight in Ireland where a young man in his 20’s flipped out, bit a fellow passenger who was trying to help him, and then died after the pilot had declared a medical emergency and diverted a plane that was supposed to go to Dublin and landed in Cork instead. The passengers of the flight were, unsurprisingly, interviewed, and the man who was bitten was hospitalized, and hopefully the young man can receive a decent burial and everyone else ends up alright. Yet at the same time, even while one awaits an understanding of what happened and hopes for the best in others, it is revealing the way that people respond to such an event. It is that aspect that I wish to discuss, the way that situations demonstrate the way that people think, either from straightforward reportage, irreverent and sarcastic humor, or puzzling and potentially misguided political advocacy.

A sample of the comments included on my Facebook News Feed follows [1]:

“Aer Lingus: Man Dies After Biting and Attacking Passengers on Airplane, Reports Say
The man was pronounced dead after a flight heading to Dublin was diverted to Cork, Ireland, because of his erratic behavior, multiple reports indicate. Police are investigating the incident.

Huh. I always thought the Zombie apocalypse was gonna start in Florida.”

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“Sounds like a Author John W. Vance book.”

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“Uh oh. We might have patient zero here??

~ Harley”

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“Man bites another passenger then drops dead… I know I’ve seen this movie.

This time though, it’s a real plane flying to Dublin that had to deal with a violent passenger running amok. Then he just dropped dead. My first thought was rabies. Feel sorry for the guy he bit. Those shots hurt!”

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“Gardaí are investigating an incident in which a man died on board an Aer Lingus flight from Lisbon to Dublin this evening. The flight was diverted to Cork. Around 170 passengers and crew members have been taken from the plane and are now being interviewed by gardaí about the incident, at Cork Airport.”

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“I just KNEW that the zombie apocalypse would start in a place full of gingers!

Aer Lingus: Man Dies After Biting and Attacking Passengers on Airplane, Reports Say

The man was pronounced dead after a flight heading to Dublin was diverted to Cork, Ireland, because of his erratic behavior, multiple reports indicate. Police are investigating the incident.”

***

“This is a real news report… not from a script of a Walking Dead episode.”

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“sounds like awareness [of epilepsy] is needed even up in the air!”

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What ties these disparate reactions to the same event, all made as relatively quick snap judgments within hours of the event taking place, together? For one, there are a few general threads within the responses. In general, there is a desire to get to the bottom of what happened, in the assumption that there was a cause to a man feeling unwell, freaking out, and then dying on a flight. Obviously, this sort of thing is not the normal, run-of-the-mill sort of experience for people flying, and so others want to know why. Some of the references to zombies are clearly a joke, but others are less obviously humorous in nature, except that the humor seems sometimes a bit biting towards redheads or people from Florida. At least one person, whose screenname involved Epilepsy Awareness Day at Disneyland, which I was not aware of, said that the story was a reminder that one needed to be aware of epilepsy in the air, even though it was not clear that the young man who died had epilepsy at all.

What are the possible responses to this sort of disaster in the air. There is always the worry that this sort of event will involve even more intrusive screening on the part of regulatory bodies around the world, who already make flying a frequently uncomfortable experience as it is. Will some kind of medical screening be necessary to fly? No doubt the idea would be tempting for those who are concerned about the way that airplanes serve as incubators for all kind of sickness. Will there be some restrictions on conditions that are unsuitable for flying? Perhaps so, but that would depend on what the deceased man was suffering from, whether it was an acute reaction of some kind or whether it was the final throes of a longer and more serious health crisis. Much remains unknown at this point, but the temptation to respond will no doubt be the same as the response to the Shoe Bomber that forced everyone to take off their shoes at airports while going through security. One person’s sins can easily ruin travel for everyone.

Regardless of the lasting repercussions, for they are likely to continue for years, let us rest assured that the zombie apocalypse is not here, but that a world full of troubled people is likely to know at least a little bit of trouble regardless of how one travels. That said, let us hope the ill-fated traveler on today’s flight is able to rest in peace, and let us hope there is some sort of closure for the family, and a way for his life to be honored, and for the well-being of the other passengers, including arriving to their destination in as timely a manner as possible, is able to occur. After all, none of us knows when exactly unusual or unfortunate events may come to us, and the least we can do is to live our lives in that knowledge by being as gracious and considerate to others in misfortune as possible, knowing how easily it can come to all of us when we least expect it, like on a pleasant flight over Ireland.

[1]: https://www.facebook.com/topic/Aer-Lingus/103751736330063?source=whfrt&position=1&trqid=6207207898216414549